


26 Family #writober2020

by YungWenLean



Category: Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu | Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27206362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YungWenLean/pseuds/YungWenLean
Summary: Felix and Alec go to school together, and today's homework is to make a family tree. Their moms talk on the phone. They may need to ask Kesler.
Kudos: 6





	26 Family #writober2020

**Author's Note:**

> #writober2020 is almost over. There are just two fics left that I haven't planned o_o Also, just imagine the life of Evangelin! Seriously, losing your parents, moving in with relatives, six years later your husband is one of the most important people in the military and you have to socialise in social circles where most people are aristocrats and despise people like you (all the while your old friends can't relate to your life anymore). And then you are also struggling to have a baby. Damn, Evangelin, your life isn't easy but you seem to handle it well!
> 
> This was class- and feminism studies in LOGH 101. Next two days will be gay & lesbian studies 101.

“Evangelin Mittermeyer” the secretary informs and Hilda tells her to put Eva through. Hilda and Evangelin barely knew each-other before the babies, but since Reinhard’s wish to have their children to grow up as friends, Evangelin is now a huge part of Hilda’s everyday life. She’s the one who picks the boys up from school, makes sure they get a sandwich and cocoa, takes them to fencing, folk dance and art school and does all those things that otherwise would be done by a governess. Alec is still the crown prince, but Hilda’s plan is that by the time he’s ready to take the role of the Kaiser, the role will be purely ceremonial. Little by little, she’s making herself obsolete. It takes a lot of work.

The boys could have been home schooled, but both families decided that in the ever-changing world they lived in, the boys needed to meet all kinds of people. The school they go to is, of course, not  _ any  _ school. It’s still a  _ good  _ school. There are commoner children studying there – unthinkable in Hilda’s lyceum days – but the commoners are children of influential families from Fezzan and Neueland, or children of highly ranked officers, like Felix. But still, it’s a difference compared to twenty years ago, it’s good for Alec.

“I’m sorry to bother you at work,” Eva apologises when she appears on the screen on Hilda’s desk. “I just need to run a thing through you.” Hilda tells Evangelin that she can call at any moment. What could be more important than the boys? 

“The boys have some homework, and one is that they are supposed to make a family tree. I just want to make sure that everything is right”. 

Who would give that kind of homework in this time and place?! Sure, it sounds innocent enough, but this country’s obsession with bloodlines has also been… unhealthy. And what will happen when some children can tear down a tapestry from the wall and bring it to school, while other kids will struggle with cut off branches, unclear relations and professions that children from prominent families look down upon. Hilda knows the feeling from the way she herself related to Evangelin. In the beginning, Hilda was worried that Evangelin would be a bad influence on her son. Hilda found Eva plain stupid and simple. She knew nothing about culture or politics, she was not really aware of the big events of the world outside of her husband’s work, and Hilda had the impression that Eva didn’t care.

In the years that passed, Hilda had to accept that as much as she and Reinhard had despised the entitled nobility, she was one of them. She couldn’t blame Evangelin for being uneducated, Eva went to the only school in her small town and had to help around the house instead of taking horseback classes or reading. They say that climbing the social ladder can give you vertigo, but what happened to Evangelin was the Fezzan Orbital Elevator – when the only thing Eva wished for was being with the man she loved. Those things considered, Hilda was impressed how well Evangelin had adapted to her new world, while keeping some habits from home despite some nobles’ looking down on her. She was still kind to the servants in situations where the servants were seen almost as furniture. She was still impressed when she met celebrities, and asked to be introduced. She made the boys clean up after themselves, which Hilda would never even think about, because her parents never made her do it.

Evangelin was not as sharp as Hilda, most people weren’t, but when it came to the boys they usually arrived at the same conclusions.

“The Mariendorfs are just as in the peerage book, right?” Evangelin checked. “Is there anything on his father’s side that I should think about?” “No, it’s Reinhard and auntie Annerose, and then the Müsels.” Your father being a dead founder of a dynasty was of course peculiar, but not in the family tree sense. “What about Felix?” Hilda asked and Eva rolled her eyes. “That’s the issue. We have talked about daddy Oskar and a mommy, but in really general terms… If we are to make a real family tree, he will want names, and pictures.” “I’m sure you can make the right decision,” Hilda said, trusting Eva to know enough about what was appropriate for eight year olds. Eva nodded. “With Felix, I’ll talk to Wolf. I’m sure that the homework has stirred up questions, so we probably have  _ the talk _ . I just wanted to ask you first, are there any political considerations we should take into account?”

Of course, if Felix shows his friends a family tree full of common people (and a legendary admiral) they might laugh at him. But if he tells them about the Reuenthals and the Lichtenlade branch, that’s a whole different matter. “Ask Kesler abt homework” Hilda scribbles in her notepad and draws a stick tree next to it. “I’ll check with security and call you as soon as I know”. 


End file.
